As she recounts this, her voice falters for a moment. She notes it sounds surreal to say it out loud. When I ask about the sudden personality change in Mary, she is quick to admit in hindsight there were red flags, she, like so many women ignored. She recalls Mary was controlling over who she could work with. Saying she wasn’t comfortable with her working with men. Williams chalked it up to a little jealousy at the time. Mary also isolated Williams from her family back home in Jacksonville, by giving her excuses and reasons not to make the long drive home. Too tired too far, not enough time, until an entire year passed without her seeing her family. Despite the bad times, She eventually married Mary and then the abuse got even worse.
Williams describes this horrific roller coaster cycle of brutal abuse, broken up by honeymoon phases filled with sex, and apologies and many, many broken promises. Williams constantly lost jobs and had trouble keeping up in school. I wondered if she ever asked for help. Filled with shame, she took years to admit to her friends what was going on. When she finally came clean, she wasn’t met with much support. Her friends called her stupid, desperate for staying in the situation. The abuse got so bad police were called on several occasions, but even trained officers were skeptical. After realizing her abuser was another woman. They took her bruises and complaints as the result of a “cat fight”. That was the term they used. With her spirit broken, self-esteem at an all-time low and no support system, Williams went back to her abuser again and again.
Even now years later, she sounds hopeless as she describes this. I had to ask how she ever got up the courage to leave.
Williams describes for me a violent attack that sounds like a scene from a movie. She was thrown down the steps of her apartment building, punched and kicked until she blacked out. When she came to, she was still being pounded. She couldn’t see out of her eyes and was covered in her own blood.
Neighbors finally called a relative of Mary’s who came and pulled her off. Police were called and Mary was arrested, just as she had been times before. But this time the extent of Williams' injuries were to severe to ignore.
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